What I Love About You | boyxboy

Chapter 30

"What about this one?" I asked, holding up a different barrette this time. He didn't come any closer to me. Instead, he stayed perfectly still, in the corner, almost like he thought that would make him invisible. "You don't have to worry about what other people think about you." I sighed.

"Yes I do." He kept looking around, even though we were the only ones here apart from a guy reading a book at the register. "I'm not like you. I can't just not care about my public image."

Well, I suppose. It was no secret I didn't exactly care about how other people saw me. Or, maybe, at the same time, I actually did. "Look, there isn't anyone else here. Pick one out."

He made a face at me before giving up and kneeling beside the display of decorate barrettes. They were all very pretty, very feminine, and sparkly. It wasn't something I'd be interested in and I wasn't sure what it would look like in his hair, but I was willing to indulge him for a while. Besides, we needed a cute little activity to pry our minds away from our personal problems.

"What about this one?" I held a turquoise barrette to his temple. Actually, it did suit him, in a strange way. Not that he looked like a girl, just that it didn't look out of place.

"It's a bow." He pointed out, taking it from my hand. "Do I even look good with them?" He sounded doubtful.

I nodded. "It looks fine."

He made a face. "Fine?"

"Well... this one looks better than this one." I pointed to one covered in beads. Would that look good on anyone? "Actually, you'd look cute with a flower." Placing the beaded one down, I switched spots with an orchid flower hair clip. I smiled. "Oh, yeah, this one's better."

Even if I said that, it didn't look like he was willing to believe it. "Maybe we should just go."

"Why?" I grabbed his arm, forcing him to stay by my side. "You said you liked hair pins, right?"

"I do... it's just... well, they never look good on me."

"Bullshit." I brought the orchid hair clip up to view. "This one is adorable."

His face went red. "Th-then... should I get this one?"

"Definitely." I got up, reviewing the price.

As we got closer to the register, he pulled out his wallet to pay for it. I stopped him, setting the hair clip down and taking my own wallet out. He made the strangest face at me. The cashier guy didn't seem to notice anything about us. Or if he did, he didn't make it apparently obvious. "That'll be seven ninety-five." Cashier guy smiled, glancing between us. I handed over a ten, getting two dollars and a nickel back. "Have a great night, you two." He smiled.

I nodded, ignoring that strange look he was making once the transaction was done.

I gave Taylor two dollars.

"What's this for?" He asked, frowning. "And how come you paid for my hair pin?"

"The two dollars is what I owe you for the bus fare." I explained. "Also, the hair pin is my gift to you. Besides, you paid for dinner."

"The bus fare?" He looked to the side, then nodded. "Yeah, okay. But is that why you wanted to go to that store?"

"Of course."

We'd taken the bus near his house to the Ridgeside mall, where that stupid "Ridgeside Skippys" saying comes from. It reminded me of when I first heard that saying. At first, I didn't even know what it meant or why it was a saying. As I got older, lived on the border of the two worlds of wealth and poverty, I understood the saying from the latter perspective. Ridgeside was the wealth. Skippys was like a way of saying, "they slide through life" or "they're walking with a skip in their step; not caring about the people or world around them." And while I've learned that to be partially true, ie: Anna and Richard Henry, I also knew now that it wasn't.